Sleep is an important multidisciplinary, translational area of medicine. The establishment of the Sleep Research Network Conference Series will bring together researchers and trainees, staff from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) and other appropriate National Institutes of Health staff, and colleagues from partnering organizations including the Academic Alliance for Sleep Research, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society. The primary goals of this conference series is to provide an ongoing forum for sleep researchers, including junior investigators, from across the United States to meet annually for the purpose of: 1) building a Sleep Research Network;2) evaluating diagnostic and therapeutic technologies, and 3) identifying opportunities for new lines of collaborative research and training. It will enable the Sleep Research Network to facilitate the coordination of new multidisciplinary approaches to the study of sleep and related disorders, and to more efficiently leverage resources across institutions. The appropriate training and development of new investigators conversant with a range of research methodologies is a major goal of the conference series. Since the Sleep Research Network is geographically representative of the United States, it therefore would offer substantial opportunities for engaging minorities and other under-represented populations in research and training activities. This R13 application is sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh and core faculty who represent numerous academic institutions across the United States with significant clinical and research programs focusing on sleep disorders. We are requesting a total of $25,000 to provide partial support for the annual conference series and are working with partnering organizations such as Academic Alliance for Sleep Research, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society, and the institutions that are participants in the Sleep Research Network, to supplement the funding for the annual conference. The following budget represents only the support requested from the NCRR to host the annual conference. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE STATEMENT (provided by the applicant): There is currently no one single venue or mechanism for bringing together leading scientists, junior investigators, professional societies and other partnering organizations, which focuses exclusively on developing and implementing multidisciplinary sleep medicine research with the ongoing infrastructure support of a formal Sleep Research Network. The primary goal of this conference series is to provide an ongoing forum for sleep researchers, including junior investigators, from across the United States to meet annually for the purpose of: 1) building a Sleep Research Network;2) evaluating diagnostic and therapeutic technologies, and 3) identifying opportunities for new lines of collaborative research and training.